The show must go on!
by airsalonpasandpettysquabbles
Summary: (Human AU) Since Splinter's death, the four brothers have felt more distant than ever. But when auditions for a play are held at their school, will they get closer again? Michelangelo sure hopes so. (Any warnings will be announced at the beginning of the chapters)
1. Chapter 1

It felt like it was just yesterday that Mikey had watched his first play. When Splinter was still alive, he would make his four sons sit down and watch his soap operas with him, but sometimes he inserted a cassette tape into the TV, where a play would show. Raphael, his second oldest brother, would only stay for a bit, claiming that plays were for girls. Donatello, his third oldest brother would leave to tinker with some of his machines. Leonardo would meditate in his room, not even bothering to stay for the opening credits. Finally, that left Mikey and Splinter. Michelangelo was amazed and entranced with theater. The costumes, the music, the drama, it was wonderful. So when high-school rolled around, he couldn't wait to try out for a play. 

Their friend April suggested them to try out for the play that year, Romeo and Juliet. Of course, his three older brothers knew that their crushes would audition for the role of Juliet, so they all tried to audition for the role of Romeo. Feeling left out, Mikey decided he too would try out, but for the small role of Benvolio. Sometimes he felt jealous of his brothers' affection and how easily they can give it away. Karai, Mona and April were just crushes. And if they do get together with his siblings, they might not last. Mikey knows he's being selfish, but he can't help it. When Splinter was alive they used to be so much closer, now they seemed to be drifting apart. Leo and Raph fight more, Donnie locks himself in his room for days, and he's left all alone knowing he can't talk to his brothers without one of them walking away or screaming or ignoring him. He hates it so much. 

Splinter was their adoptive father. He found all four of them on the streets, alone, without so much as a sock. Nestled in a basket, or roaming the streets, he took one look at them and immediately adopted them. You could tell that the four of them weren't really related, due to their appearances. Leo was tall with a medium build, with black hair sweeping his face and dark blue eyes analyzing your every move. Raph on the other hand was a bit smaller than Leo with a strong build. He had short dark red hair and green eyes. Donnie was the tallest out of all of them, like a sequoia tree. He was skinny, but smart, with hazel eyes and hair just like Leo's. Then there was Mikey. He stood out from his brothers because of his small stature and frame, his shoulder length blond locks, his bright blue eyes and his cute freckles. He had some femininity, like the curve in his hips and his delicate face, and his brothers would tease him for it. Well, when they used to talk more to him. After Splinter's demise, he left them with all his savings, and the house they lived in. His brother, Saki, who lived in LA decided to 'take responsibility' and pay their rent. They were great full for it, but they knew that they could be cut off by him anytime, so they were always hunting for jobs and such. Leo had landed one, the previous year, in a retail store and was making some 'okay' money. But combined with Raph's repair-shop salary and Donnie's computer services earnings, they were making it. They decided to save the savings money for when they would graduate, so in less than a year for Leo and Raph and two years for Donnie and Mikey. They budgeted and saved and the bottom line was that they had food to eat at the end of the day.

Their father had told them that even if they weren't related by blood, they were still family. When he was not around to remind them that, they started to feel less and less like family.

Michelangelo just hoped that this play could bring them closer, or even make them feel like brothers again, god forbid.


	2. Chapter 2

Warnings :

\- Swearing, angst, flashbacks are in italics -

"I hope you all break your legs, except you Mikey. You're gonna be my wing-man when I'll be Romeo."

It was the Afternoon of the auditions. The four brothers met at the auditorium.

"You mean 'if' you become Romeo," retorted the eldest.

"You're no better Leo, trying to impress Karai. You've been boasting all weekend."

"Yeah? Well what about you and April?" This comment made the tall teen blush.

"Alright guys, quit your petty squabbles and get to it!"

"Easy for you to say, Mike, you're not in love."

A round of teasing lasted for about a minute. The Romeo's were called on stage, leaving Mikey to himself.

"Yeah, well it's not like you would know, since we don't talk anymore. Not like we used to."

He made his way backstage.

...

The auditions lasted for a good two hours. It was almost Michelangelo's turn, except there was a girl right before him that was struggling with her lines. The pure want to help others overruled all of his common sense, so he decided he was going to help her.

" 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone. And yet...and yet-"

"And yet no farther than a wan-ton's bird, that let's it hop a little from his hand. Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, and..."

"And with a silken thread plucks its back again, so loving-jealous of his liberty!"

"I would, I were thy bird."

"Sweet, so would I. Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I should say good night-"

"-till it be morrow."

Ms. Hearth, the drama teacher, started clapping.

"Bravo! That was simply wonderful. I have never seen so much character played into Juliet before. My dear boy, what is your name?"

"Michelangelo Hamato, but you can call me Mikey."

"Well then, Mikey, I'll be sure to remember your name."

"Actually, I-"

"And you, Ms. Tilly, I see you as Juliet's nurse. How would you feel about that role?"

"That would be great! Thank you Ms. Hearth."

"Ms. Hearth, I actually came to audition for the role of Benvolio, so-"

"Oh none of that. I have seen your talent, now you'll just have to wait for the cast list to come out. Now, let the others give their best, yeah?"

"Oh right, sorry. Thanks again!"

The two exited the stage in excitement.

"Hey, sorry about ruining your-"

"Thanks for saving my audition! I surely thought I was doomed."

"Oh..no problem. You seemed like you needed a small push."

"Yeah. Hey, I'm Renet by the way."

"Mikey, nice meeting you."

"You were a great Juliet by the way."

"Haha, thanks. But I don't think I'll get a role, she didn't even want to see me try the part of Benvolio.."

"What if she wants you to play Juliet?"

"What! Me? Pf, I don't think so. I'm a guy, plus I don't have what it takes to pretend to be as sweet or pretty as Juliet."

"Sure, sure. But if you did get the part, would you be against playing it?"

He took a moment to think.  
"Nah, I think it would be awesome actually. I don't know how other people would take it, namely my brothers, but I seriously doubt that anything like that would ever happen."

"Did you just challenge fate? Because let me tell you something, fate is not a force to be reckoned with."

They both burst out laughing. Anything like that was too crazy to happen. Or was it?

...

His brothers auditioned as Romeo an hour ago. He had watched them and tried not to laugh. His brothers were so cheesy. He hadn't even realized that this was the first time in months that he had laughed. It felt good being all together again. Well, partially together. This was just the beginning of things and he dearly hoped things would go back to normal.

Anyways, his brothers were obviously not going to wait an hour for him to audition. Leo said he would drive back to get him after he auditioned, but he didn't see him anywhere. He knew Leo was always on top of thing, but sometimes he forgot. But even then, Donnie would surely notice and do something, right? He honest to god did not trust Raphael to remember trivial things like picking him up. So, waiting it was.

Half an hour later, and Mikey was convincing himself it was just traffic. Just traffic, yeah?

An hour and a half later Mikey was considering walking home. Only problem was that he didn't know how. He had a vague notion of where he was, but it was better than waiting forever on the school steps. By this time he was sure his brother forgot.

Mikey was officially lost. He had searched and searched and searched, not finding any clues or landmarks. Nothing. He felt like screaming, or crying, or going back to the school. But he did none of those things. He cleared his mind by meditating peacefully on bench. The stars were going to lead him home.

 _"Michelangelo, if you ever get lost follow the stars. Follow the big dipper to find the north star. That will lead you home, home is north. Do you understand?"_

 _"Okie, Dad. But why wouldn't 'Weo or 'Waph or Donnie be with me?"_

 _"Well, sometimes you might find yourself alone. Okay?"_

 _"Okay."_

This reasoning seemed totally bogus, but it was all he had. If he couldn't rely on any of his three big brothers, he would rely on himself. And when he would arrive home, his brothers were in for it.

He started his journey home, as the sky got darker and darker, and he wasn't feeling very comfortable. He hated the dark, always scared as a child and well now. He kept following the constellation until he finally reached the local grocery store. He knew where he was.

As he reached the front door he could hear yelling. It wasn't just Leo and Raph, it was all three of them this time. Who knew what they were fighting about, it was unimportant. Mikey was sick of it. So he opened the door to confront his brothers.

"Can you all just shut the fuck up for one god-damn minute?! Since Splinter's death you have all gone off the edge and I'm just so sick of your shit! Maybe if you hadn't been fighting, Leo could have actually gotten to get me at school. Yeah, remember me? Your little brother? He almost got lost and hit by a car (which wasn't a complete lie) and he's done with all of you being against each other! Why can't we act like brothers? Is that so hard to ask for? Why can't we be nice to each other for one week. One day. One second! We used to be so close. Now we're...now we're acting like we're not brothers. Not family. Family doesn't act like this. Not all the time. So you better get your acts together or I'm going to move to uncle Saki's house."

He made his way past his dumbfounded brothers and locked himself in his room. Why did things have to be this way?


	3. Chapter 3

/Update! I know it's been a while... Good luck to anyone with exams!\\\\\

...

Mikey fell asleep quite easily, unlike his brothers. The previous evening had been a complete disaster.

*Flashback*

"Hey Raph, Karai's martial arts class has been cancelled, so we're going on a date. You know how hard it is to match our schedules together these days, and we both rarely have free time. So I was wondering if you could pick Mikey up from school."

"Sure." The second eldest might have agreed, but he was in the middle of playing a video game, which meant his reaction was a simple reflex.

Leo, knowing that Raph might not remember, reminded his other brother.

"Don, can you remind him if he forgets?"

"Sure thing."

"Great."

Bottom line? They all forgot.

So when Leo got back he noticed that his youngest brother's shoes were missing.

"Hey Raph, you did pick up Mikey, right?"

They all looked at each other.

"Oh shit."

"Raph! What the hell?! You're supposed to be a responsible adult and brother, and you promised me that you would pick him up. He's fifteen. Fifteen! He's fifteen and scared of the dark and alone and possibly lost and holy shit what were you thinking?!"

"It ain't my fault! Blame Donnie he was supposed to remind me! I was busy!"

"I was busy too dumb-ass, but I was actually doing school work! You were texting your girlfriend. Is she more important than your little brother?!"

"Don, Raph, calm down! We need to find h-"

And that's when Mikey walked into the fight.

*End of Flashback*

Leo had no idea how to make it up to his little brother. _He_ assured him that he would pick him up. _He_ was supposed to make sure they were all okay. _He_ was the big brother. But no, everything was not okay, and his brother was angry at him. His little brother, his youngest, the least-likely sibling to yell and shout like he did, but it had happened. He owed him an apology. They all did. Since their father, Splinter, had passed, the whole familiarity and easiness of life had split in two. Raph got into more fights, Donnie shut himself more in his room and Mikey didn't talk as much as he used to. He didn't smile. He didn't...laugh. Leo was driving himself even further, blaming himself for everything, sheltering his brothers to take care of them, shouldering life's problems one at a time. During all of that he hadn't even realized or considered what his siblings were going through too. That's when all the fights; major, minor, bad, awful and even ugly, came rushing back to him. All those times that felt non-natural. Then the most recent one came back, hitting too close too home. _"Since Splinter's death you have all gone off the edge and I'm just so sick of your shit!" "Why can't we act like brothers? Is that so hard to ask for?" "We used to be so close."_ That's when it hit him. Mikey wanted his brothers back. No, he _needed_ them.

And who was Leo to say no to his little brother?

...

Raph was shocked, to say the least. _He_ was the one with a temper. Not Mikey. Mikey was all rainbows and sunshine, always has been and always will be. At least, that's what he thought until yesterday. God, look at him. He was supposed to be mature and responsible, but he had messed everything up. He wishes he could go back in time and do what he was supposed to do, but he can't. He could understand why he was so angry, and honestly he would be too if he were in the same situation. Having three older brothers that don't have their shit together, that aren't there to raise him properly, that's not something Mikey should go through. And if he were- and if _they_ were going to lose Mikey because they were always fighting, well then all hell would freeze over. Their youngest brother was pure and smart and friendly. He was the glue that brought them all together. He was..he _is_ the reason why their all still...here. Leo would forget about his own health only focusing on the well-being of others, Donnie would isolate himself even more, not talking to anybody and ending up like Leo. But Raph, he would have most likely left at some point or another, joining clubs, gangs, anything to survive. Sure, he loved his brothers, he would miss them, but they didn't need a bad influence like him. Mona didn't need a bad influence like him. Speaking of Mona, what Donnie said before really put things into perspective. _"You were texting your girlfriend. Is she more important than your little brother?!"_ He was right. Mikey was more important. When had serious matters come second to careless ones? Since when was his family _less_ important than anything or anyone else? And when had friendly banter turned into no man's land? Touchy subjects and old wounds being re-opened like exploding mines, tempers flaring like cannons and bombs, ignorance, carelessness, irresponsibility- oh. _Irresponsibility._ Things were getting out of hand, too out of hand.

I'm sorry Mikey, you're very important to me and I won't let anyone or anything blind me from that.

...

Donnie didn't know what to do. There was a time, when they were younger, where he stood in the same shoes as his younger brother. They used to watch as red and blue clashed at the most useless things. Because the most careless reasons. Leo and Raph would always fight about something. But that was different. Splinter was always there to stop it. On top of that, the fights were always about childish things and not life-threatening things. So when did he stop looking from the other side of the window? When had he integrated into the fights? When had he started shouting vulgarities and accusations? He was supposed to be the smart one, astute and reasoned, but that was a blunt lie. He was none of those things. Before he had crossed over, stepped on all of his values, he had known Mikey's worst fear. That his brothers would all split up. Hate each other. Leave, because one day their fighting would really get out of control. He had known that Mikey was never the one to talk during a fight, but back then he would try to make them stop. He would at least try to be the moderator. Maybe now that he was alone on the observing side encouraged him to stay even more silent. Well, that was until yesterday's fight. He hated that Mikey had to witness their weakest times together, their ugly sides showing desperately. And the worst part was that they even _had_ to fight in the first place. They should have their acts together, acting like brothers, especially in the time of need. Before, they had a guiding hand to help them, and suddenly it wasn't there anymore. It was just them four, a bunch of clueless teenagers. Leo pushing himself harder, Raph getting even more out of line with social and school life, and him, isolating himself with his inventions and his computer hard-drive. But they forgot about Mikey, the youngest and the most affected by their father's death. He wasn't their biological father, but it sure felt like he was. His absence had struck his baby brother the most and no-one had noticed it. He should have had supporting brothers, many shoulders to cry on, consoling hugs and soft words, but instead he got three quarreling, distant, immature brothers.

He only had one little brother, and he wasn't going to let anything else happen to him.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun crept over the horizon, and the birds were chipper and chirping. It was the crack of dawn, which meant Mikey had to get up, but that was only to cook his brothers breakfast. Today, however, he didn't feel like cooking anyone breakfast, not even for himself, so he didn't need to be bothered by chores. Or awoken at some ungodly hour in the morning, for that matter.

...

"Mikey.."

"Hmm?"

"Mikey."

"Five more minutes."

"Mikey!"

"What?!" He woke up from his trance, shifting bleary eyes toward his red-haired brother.

"Mikey we're going to be late for school! Not to mention the fact that Leo can't cook, so we'll have to stop to grab something on the way there."

"It's fine. 'M not hungry."

Raphael only rolled his eyes. "When are you _not_ hungry? That's impossible. Now come on, up! Up!"

Mikey tried getting out of bed but ended up rolling off it because he was coddled in his blankets like a burrito.

...

The trip in the car was a nightmare. Everyone could feel the anger and sadness rolling off of Mikey, and could clearly see his pout and defensive posture. They were planning on apologizing to their brother /perhaps with a pizza bribe/ but decided on letting him cool off first.

Leo pulled into the McDonald's drive-thru, encouraging his brothers to look at the menu.

"Leo," Raph started, "we've been over this. It's McDonald's. There are Coffee and Sandwiches, sandwiches and coffee. Just pick something!"

"Alright, fine. I just want-"

"-to try and create a sense of variety to make up for the fact that we're poor and can't afford much?"

They all stared in complete disbelief at their youngest family member. Donnie and Raph looked concerned, but Leo, being the head of the house and responsible for his brothers' health and well-being, on top of the one in charge of bringing some sort of income into their family, was absolutely furious.

"Michelangelo, what has come over you?! You do not get to talk to us like that, not when we, when _I,_ am trying so hard to give you all that's best for you. When I am doing all I can to support us financially in not only your post-secondary education but your everyday life as well."

Mikey felt ashamed of himself. He didn't know what had come over him. What he had stated was clearly thought by the three other parties in the vehicle, it was just something that always went unspoken.

"I'm sorry Leo, I just- I'm just really irritated and I know that's not an excuse, and I know you're doing your best, I just-"

"It's fine, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry too. I don't know why I got so angry..."

"Alright," Raph cut in, "why don't we concentrate on getting to school, yeah?"

"Oh sh- shucks, we're going to be late, aren't we."

Mikey hid his laugh behind his hand. Leo almost never swore in front of them, so it was funny seeing him slip up.

...

"Mikey!"

Heading to the cafeteria, Michelangelo turned around to see a familiar face. "Renet! What's going on?"

"The cast sheet is out! It's out!" She grabbed his sleeve and frantically pulled him towards the auditorium.

When they finally arrived at their destination, they were surrounded by chatter. There was an exciting, eager buzz in the air, and yet a veil of jealousy surrounding the area as well. What a bittersweet feeling...

"Scuse me, sorry, coming through!" They had to push through some people to get to the actual list.

They took a second to read it and Mikey's face flushed.

"She didn't.."

"She did!"

"Oh no, I'm doomed."

Renet had gotten the part of Juliet's nurse, and Mikey would be playing the role of Juliet!

He looked around to see some girls staring at him jealously, and he couldn't help but feel happy. These people who were always hurting others were being hurt by their own lack of acceptance.

"You know what this means, right?"

"No?"

"You're going to have to kiss Romeo. Another _guy_."

"Oh shi-"

"Oh my goodness, Romeo is played by the one and only Leather-head."

"Renet please stop, you're making me even more nervous.."

"Sorry, sorry. Do you even know who he is though?"

"Not really, although I've heard he has temper problems. However, I don't want to judge his character based on silly rumors."

"Good, because some would say he's a real lady killer. That's probably another reason why most of the girls are jealous of you."

"Pf, I'm sure I'll be fine. Trust me, I live with three older brothers-"

"Look, he's coming!"

Mikey looked where his friend was pointing, and he almost did a double turn.

"Oh no, he's hot!"


End file.
